Here’s Everything The ’90s Kid In You Didn’t Know About The Original ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Movie

Your childhood is just days away from being forever crushed by Michael Bay and his CGI turtles in a half shell. There’s still time to enjoy some of the TMNT nostalgia before the franchise is forever altered, and that’s where movie trivia comes in. The 1990 film was a monster success, spawning a number of sequels, as well as the very popular “Coming Out of Their Shells” live tour — I’m still bitter about missing out on that. As much fun as the 1990 movie was, it didn’t stay true to the comic books and took most of its cues from the popular cartoon. The turtles’ love of pizza, Michelangelo’s surfer speak, and the overuse of “cowabunga” can be attributed to the cartoon.

It’s little tweaks like that though that made the cartoon and movie that followed so damn appealing to a 90s kid. Bringing the turtles to life wasn’t an easy task, in fact, it was actually quite a grueling process for the actors and creature creators involved. Consider these 12 pieces of childhood nostalgia a look behind the shell.

1. Actor Josh Pais had anxiety about wearing his Raphael mask. The actor was the only one to provide his own character voice, but wasn’t a fan of wearing the turtle mask because of severe claustrophobia. Pais would immediately remove his mask after every cut.

Golden Harvest Company/Committed Impulse

2. The costumes were incredibly hot, way too big, and fell apart. The costumes had nearly 60 pounds of animatronics inside them, so this coupled with the summer North Carolina humidity caused each of the actors to lose almost 20 pounds. The costumes also didn’t hold up that well and took a lot of wear and tear. Replacement limbs were kept on supply so they could be switched out when needed. Besides being hot, heavy, and prone to damage, the turtle costumes were also too big to fit in a manhole, forcing producers to have custom manholes built.

Golden Harvest Company/TMNT movie site

3. For a time it was the highest-grossing indie film. Not even the big, bad studios of Hollywood could stop the wave of turtle power, and the turtles were making bank in 1990. At the time of its release, TMNT was the second highest-grossing indie film ever, raking in $201 million at the box office. The turtles’ indie crown was lost a few years later when Pulp Fiction passed it by making $213 million.

4. The actors who played the turtles all have cameos in the movie without their turtle suits on.
Josh Pais “Raphael” — Plays the passenger in the back of the cab when Raph leaps onto the cab’s hood.
Lief Tilden “Donatello” — Plays the foot messenger that meets April in the subway station.
David Forman “Leonardo” — Portrays a gang member at the warehouse when Casey Jones fights with Foot Clan leader Tatsu.
Michelan Sisti “Michelangelo” — Is the pizza delivery man who delivers the turtles pizza in the sewer.

5. Actress Judith Hoag wasn’t a fan of how the movie came out.The actress has said that she enjoyed making the film, but there was a “mystical through-line” with the turtles that was cut she wasn’t happy about. “But one of the producers called those parts ‘fluff’ and said that ‘all the kids wanted to see was the fighting.’ I disagreed with him then and I disagree with him now.”

This was the primary reason that Hoag did not reprise her role in Secret of the Ooze. Well, that and money. “I wanted the ‘fluff’ back in the script and I wanted conditions on the set to improve. I also wanted a raise.”

Golden Harvest Company

6. Sam Rockwell gives a shout out to the comic’s creators. When Sam Rockwell’s character tells the police to “go check out the East Warehouse over at Lairdman Island” this is a nod to the comic’ creators: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

ĿoVE this jσb, since I’ve been bringing in $12O/h… I sit at home, music playing while I wσrk in front of my new iMac that I got now that I’m making it σnline. All I do are easy tasks from this one cool site. Check this out…. CashBay10.com

“I couldn’t wait to see the Out Of Their Shells Tour. After the show I was asked if I wanted to go meet some of the performers backstage. Man, I was thrilled. But when I got back there, they were drunk and out of control. Raphael and Leonardo kept feeling up my leg. I tried to leave, but, Splinter held me down, and… I was raped by Michelangelo.”

@BurnsyFan66 @kazoshay Let’s get one thing straight, actor. I don’t trust you. And if you betray us, I’ll rip your fucking balls off and stuff them up your ass so that the next time you shit, you’ll shit all over your balls, got it?

Listen fellow commenters, we’re being dicks! We’re reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the UPROXX writers are pussies. And Corey Feldman is an asshole. Pussies don’t like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls.

The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn’t appropriate – and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves… because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don’t know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don’t let us fuck this asshole, we’re going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!!!

I always felt like an Utrom/Krang plot was cut from TMNT 2. The professor seems to act very strangely at certain parts as if he’s an alien… or has some other agenda. I have no proof, but I always thought there was a plot cut from the movie for time/budget reasons.

MulliganNY …. you are right,,,,it was. I forget where i saw it but it was changed bc they were afraid kids would get the utrom confused with 80’s cartoon kraang. I dont think it was ever filmed that way but that was the ORIGINAL premise. Again i just dont recall how far the idea went before it was scrapped

i watched the third turtles movie and even though the animatronics in the masks were far less impressive, it was still alright. can’t wait to see the honest trailers/everything wrong with/half in the bag videos of the past and present turtles movies.

I forget what the post was but a while back I commented on how at a handful of concerts I’ve gone to people go nuts when a sax player walks out on stage. I can’t tell if they’re cheering ironically, or if a very large group of people just think saxophones are the most awesome of all instruments.

Hate to be “that guy,” but the scene shown for #11 is not the one the trivia refers to. That scene is about 30 minutes into the movie and Tatsu is in the training room with some of the Foot Clan. He fights one of them and they bow to him, he kicks him and knocks him down. The screenshot you have is where Tatsu tells him, “Never lower your eyes to an enemy.” Immediately after, the gong sounds for the big meeting they show with the entire Foot Clan.

The scene that the piece of trivia actually refers to, is a little bit later. Shredder is angry that Tatsu’s mission to April’s house doesn’t result in the capture of the turtles and he storms in and questions Splinter, asking how the turtles know how to fight. After, he gives a disapproving look to Tatsu and leaves. Tatsu then storms into the training area, beating up on members of the Foot and tearing up the room. When one tries to stop him, he hits/kicks him several times, finally delivering a back hand to the head, apparently killing him.

The actual footage remains unchanged. The guy’s mask is removed and he still lays motionless on the floor, but it cuts away and choking sounds are added, along with someone saying, “He’ll be alright. He’ll be alright.”

What I wanna know is why hasn’t the full score ever been released? The music during both the training scene in the forest, and their meditation scene where they contact splinter still both gets me pumped up and gets me right in the cockles whenever I revisit this gem.

True Story: This is one of the 1st films I can remember seeing in theaters. I was 6. My parents took me. The scene where April says: “You guys eat pizza?” and they respond “Doesn’t everybody?” My parents both shouted “BUT STEVEN DON’T!!” It was the first time I can remember ever feeling embarrassed lol.

truth is when the movies were filmed there were mild summers so the claims about the heat should refer more to the lights on the sound stages . we all would all comment on how we were glad to not be the guys in the suits. Here is another fact The wrap party for the second one was held at a hooters